"I remember seeing myself in the mirror and that’s when I came to and screamed," she said. "I couldn't believe what I looked like."

Despite the ordeal, the healing process has been remarkable, considering what might have been.

Sheldon, a volunteer firefighter and paramedic, said he laid a wet wash cloth on her face. That quick-thinking put her on the fast track to healing.

"For one, he pushed me off the grate and saved my face and he saved my eye and by keeping it cool and moist," she recalled. "They say it's the best thing he could have done. He was always my hero but now he is really my hero."

Regina, who lives in Rockwood, Pennsylvania, is still healing and has to be very careful.